Somebody's going to trade for Tarik Skubal. Why not the Cubs?
If they're going to make one bold move and quit, again, this would be the one to make
Don't forget to check out yesterday's RECRAP on the Bears' big win over the Browns.
It sure seems as though the Detroit Tigers are going to trade their ace pitcher Tarik Skubal to somebody this offseason. The usual suspects are being connected to this, the Dodgers, the Mets, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Blue Jays and the Orioles.
Skubal is one of the three best pitchers in the game, along with Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yes, he's even better than Jameson Taillon, somehow.
He's in his final year of arbitration and will be an unrestricted free agent after next season--whenever that is, and his agent is the guy who gives every front office the night sweats, Scott Boras.
Should the Tigers be trading him? No, of course not. For much of last season they fancied themselves as the best team in the American League, and should be going hell bent for leather to win the American League this year. They also have enough money, and just the 17th highest payroll in the game, so they could easily accommodate a huge deal for their best player.
How much is Skubal going to get? He's somewhat comparable to Max Fried, who got an eight-year, $218 million deal ($31.5M per) last offseason. Skubal will be a year younger than Fried was and even more accomplished, but something in the eight-year $280 million ($35 M per) seems likely. Yamamoto averages $27 million on his 12 year deal, but his luxury tax annual value is "only" $27 million.
There are ways to structure a big, fat deal for Skubal that would make it seem like a bargain for the Tigers in a few years.
But most baseball teams are owned by rich idiot assholes, and that's why great players often end up changing teams for the dumbest of reasons.
Speaking of rich idiot assholes, the Cubs have a recent trend of making one bold, correct move in the offseason to signal that they really want to win and are ready to go all in, only to immediately stop adding players. Two years ago they made a smart move to fire David Ross and hire Craig Counsell, but then they handed Counsell the same mediocre team that Ross was doing nothing with. Last year, the Cubs rightly acknowledged their offense needed a true star to make it something useful and they traded for Kyle Tucker, and then...nothing else.
So far this year they've done nothing, unless we're supposed to believe that middle relievers Phil Maton, Colin Snider and Hoby Milner are bold moves.
Why don't the Cubs make a trade for Skubal be their one smart, aggressive move?
